A hard fought game lost in the drizzle at Horsham.

London 3 South East League.
HORSHAM 1sts 10 FOLKESTONE 1sts 0
Saturday 28th February 2015 Report by Alan Schofield.
With three points in the league table separating four teams vying for the ‘best of the rest’ in the final table –points, at this time, are important to coaches and players alike.
Although Horsham have already done enough to gain promotion this season, and lead the table by 11 clear points, Folkestone will have started this game in the knowledge that only a lucky intercepted try separated the teams at Burlington Fields earlier this season – and that they scored 41 points in the equivalent fixture last season.
To an impartial observer, on the evidence of this game, it would have been hard to see, that there is so much of a difference between the two teams. Folkestone gave one of the best performances of their season – losing only to a try when they were down to 13 men. And with Chris Petley and ‘Thomo’ Murray both getting to the try line – and James Mead unfortunately missing three kicks at the posts for point scoring opportunities – another day could have seen another result.
As in the past the Horsham pitch was wet and heavy going and with a nearly constant drizzle the playing conditions were not ideal for Folkestone’s free-flowing running game.
A nervous start put The Stones into defence for the first ten minutes and they had to repel a series of attacks and searching kicks and Frankie Morgan brought off a try saving tackle on the right wing. Horsham have a well-balanced and strong pack of forwards – and this has been their platform for their successful season, but the Folkestone coach Leigh Fitchie selected a front row of ‘Moose Murray, Adam Fullerton and Matt Roots to combat this. So Horsham must have been dismayed to find that they could not produce forward movement in the scrums.
The fight back came with combination rugby from the forwards and the backs with Richie Bowen making valuable yardage and John Eustace keeping two men fully occupied. It was when Eustace was obstructed James Mead scraped the posts with a penalty kick – only to repeat the lapse minutes later when Horsham would not release the ball after a chip kick from Adam Tolman was fielded.
Tolman’s kicking into space gave Folkestone field position, but Horsham always looked secure in coping with these. They missed a long range penalty attempt and began to look dangerous when they had the best of possession from line outs. But Folkestone tackling was exceptional – Richie Bowen was tigerish around the set pieces and gave the Horsham scrum half and fly half much to think about as he was constantly onto them. Chris Petley, similarly, was throwing himself into tackles – and it was he who made a try saving tackle when Horsham broke loose on the left.
There was no score at half time, but The Stones came out for the second half for a 12 minute assault and they looked the better side as Horsham threw everything into defence. Chris Petley was denied a touch down after charging down a clearance kick and when John Eustace moved into the loose maul, snatched the ball and fed ‘Thomo’ Murray on the opposite who ran a wily and strong line to the try line. A pile of defenders made it difficult for the referee to see the try – and so it was denied.
And so it was completely against the run of play when, after 65 minutes, Horsham converted a penalty kick, after a rare foray into the Folkestone half, and took a 3 – 0 lead.
Carl Tibbett came on for Ryan Farrow (playing in the second row, out of his usual position in the backs) and then the whole of the Folkestone team, and supporters, gave a warm welcome back to Seyhan Fell after his year gap in New Zealand.
Perhaps the efforts that every player had put into the first 70 minutes of play were beginning to tell as Horsham, clearly worried about their winning record, began to gain ascendency in the scrums and line-outs and the rucks. Adam Tolman kicked into space to relieve some pressure, but Horsham were trying very hard to break down this solid Stones defence – with little success.
Ollie Walton brought off a superb tackle to stop one move on the left – but was surprisingly yellow carded for not releasing the tackled player. This seemed a harsh decision 22 metres from the try line, but still Folkestone defended magnificently. But within minutes, they were reduced in strength again as the referee decided to send Adam Fullerton to the sin bin for another close quarter offence, which left him shaking his head in disbelief.
Five minutes remained for Folkestone to hold out for a well-deserved point with their 13 remaining players but a Horsham throw in from touch - when the ball was directed down the outside of the Horsham line out, incredibly unseen by the referee, gave them the possession and the numbers to overwhelm the defence for a try that should not have been – and was cruelly unlucky for the Folkestone players – exacerbated when the try was converted for an unlikely looking 10 – 0 score line.
There was still, time to recover and adam Tolman, ‘Thomo’ Murray and Chris Petley all had attacking efforts tackled by the Horsham defence, but the Gods of rugby had decided the Folkestone were to lose this closely fought, exciting and fairly played game.
This was a tremendous away performance by The Stones where every man gave 100% effort on this day. Richie Bowen, Chris Petley and Will Turner were a back row combination that frustrated the league leaders throughout, and James Mead combined well with Adam Tolman behind the scrum – and it is particularly good to see the young Frankie Morgan developing into a formidable player in attack and defence.
Next week Folkestone entertain bottom of the table, Lewes who this day held third placed Bromley to 5 points only and who are no pushovers with their strengthened team.
Team: Frankie Morgan; Thomo Murray, Ollie Walton, John Eustace, Fraser Nurse; Adam Tolman, James Mead; Martin Murray (Capt.), Adam Fullerton, Mat Roots; Ryan Farrow, Ben Stringer; Will Turner, Richie Bowen, Chris Petley.
Subs: Carl Tibbetts, Miles Dempsey, Seyhan Fell.

More photos courtesy of Horsham are at:
http://www.horshamrufc.com/photos/1st-xv-v-folkestone-280215-h-564937.html#